Burna terms his music as Afrofusion, in which he blends those tones of his youth into a rich palette, smudging the strata between Afrobeats and dancehall and R&B and rap until it has become something of his own. That bridging of borders has been the backdrop to his music and AfricaвЂ™s crossing into the mainstream. ДЄt home his father played dancehall and reggae, exposed a young Burna to the likes of Shabba Ranks, Super Cat, Buju Banton and Ninjaman, cult artists from JamaicaвЂ™s music scene, while elsewhere he grew a love of US rap from his uncle, who brought the music of Naughty By Nature, Busta Rhymes, Big Pun and DMX into his world. Later, he was hosted at a concert in his honour, where musicians from the city turned out to celebrate his achievements and the Rivers State governor presented him with the Distinguished Service Star, its second-highest ranking award.

Bounded by security, he waded through the crowd, screams and hands and iPhones thrust into his face. They held placards and wore T-shirts with his face laminated across the front. Crowded lines of Port Harcourt residents greeted him on his return. It may not mean anything to someone else, but to me, and to us, it means more than you can imagine.вЂќДЄfter his win, Burna Boy was thrown a homecoming ceremony. IвЂ™ve come from Port Harcourt, the bottom of the map in Nigeria, and now IвЂ™ve become a champion. time to start thinking about ourselves, not what the society said we should be or what our limitations say we should be. You are what you think, at the end of the day. Because our people have been very mentally oppressed to feel like they canвЂ™t do certain things and that certain things are unreachable. вЂњIt was almost as if IвЂ™ve broken a mental cycle of our people. вЂњI wasnвЂ™t celebrating because of myself,вЂќ he tells me. In the soul of his albums, Life, On A Spaceship, Outside, African Giant and Twice As Tall, the latter three released in a concurrent stretch between 20, is a mood of pan-Africanism and continental unity that has defined the time period for his generation of musicians emerging from the continent. His emergence onto the world stage in recent years has been representative of a wider shift, a symbol for how sounds and cultures rumbling from Africa, and its diaspora scattered through Western countries and continents, have crossed into the heartlands of global pop culture. вЂњThis should be a lesson to every African out there: no matter where you are, no matter what you plan to do, you can achieve it, because you are a king.вЂќ вЂњThis is a big win for my generation of Africans all over the world,вЂќ he continued. Burna gathered himself among the pandemonium and finally settled to accept his prize. It was a spirited rejoicing, a childhood dream crystallising into reality. Off camera, the shrieks of his elated family drowned the room, waves of screams and cries carrying over the speakers.

Burna boy outside album cover